Biomimetic Mineralized 3D-Printed Polycaprolactone Scaffold Induced by Self-Adaptive Nanotopology to Accelerate Bone Regeneration.

Three-dimensional (3D)-printed biodegradable polymer scaffolds are at the forefront of personalized constructs for bone tissue engineering. However, it remains challenging to create a biological microenvironment for bone growth. Herein, we developed a novel yet feasible approach to facilitate biomimetic mineralization via self-adaptive nanotopography, which overcomes difficulties in the surface biofunctionalization of 3D-printed polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds. The building blocks of self-adaptive nanotopography were PCL lamellae that formed on the 3D-printed PCL scaffold via surface-directed epitaxial crystallization and acted as a linker to nucleate and generate hydroxyapatite crystals. Accordingly, a uniform and robust mineralized layer was immobilized throughout the scaffolds, which strongly bound to the strands and had no effect on the mechanical properties of the scaffolds. In vitro cell culture experiments revealed that the resulting scaffold was biocompatible and enhanced the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of mouse embryolous osteoblast cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the resulting scaffold showed a strong capability to accelerate in vivo bone regeneration using a rabbit bone defect model. This study provides valuable opportunities to enhance the application of 3D-printed scaffolds in bone repair, paving the way for translation to other orthopedic implants.

Apple polyphenol extract ameliorates sugary-diet-induced depression-like behaviors in male C57BL/6 mice by inhibiting the inflammation of the gut-brain axis.

To explore whether apple polyphenol extract (APE) ameliorates sugary-diet-induced depression-like behaviors, thirty male C57BL/6 mice (3-4 weeks old) were assigned to three groups randomly to receive different treatments for 8 consecutive weeks: (1) control group (CON), (2) S-HSD group (60% high sucrose diet feeding with 0.1 mg mL-1 sucralose solution as drinking water), and (3) S-APE group (S-HSD feeding with 500 mg per (kg bw day) APE solution gavage). The S-HSD group showed significant depression-like behaviors compared with the CON group, which was manifested by an increased number of buried marbles in the marble burying test, prolonged immobility time in both the tail suspension test and forced swimming test, and cognitive impairment based on the Morris water maze test. However, APE intervention significantly improved the depression-like behaviors by reducing serum levels of corticosterone and adrenocorticotropic hormone, and increasing the serum level of IL-10. Moreover, APE intervention inhibited the activation of the NF-κB inflammatory pathway, elevated colonic MUC-2 protein expression, and elevated the colonic and hippocampal tight junction proteins of occludin and ZO-1. Furthermore, APE intervention increased the richness and diversity of gut microbiota by regulating the composition of microbiota, with increased relative abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroidota, decreased relative abundance of Verrucomicrobiota at the phylum level, significantly lowered relative abundance of Akkermansia at the genus level, and rebalanced abnormal relative abundance of Muribaculaceae_unclassified, Coriobacteriaceae_UCG-002, and Lachnoclostridium induced by S-HSD feeding. Thus, our study supports the potential application of APE as a dietary intervention for ameliorating depression-like behavioral disorders.

Other-Benefiting Lying Behavior in Preschool Children and Its Relation to Theory of Mind and Empathy.

The present study examined children's lies to help others obtain benefits (other-benefiting lying) and its relation to theory of mind (ToM) and empathy among 3-5-year-old preschool children. One hundred nine children were recruited from preschools in China. A modified hide-and-seek paradigm was used to measure children's other-benefiting lying behavior, a ToM scale was used to measure children's ToM abilities, and an empathy scale was used to measure children's empathy abilities. Results showed that children tended to tell more lies to help other to get benefits as age increased, and further analyses showed that this other-benefiting lying was related to children's ToM component of false belief understanding and their cognitive empathy performance. These findings provide evidence that cognitive factors play important roles in children's lying to help others.

Does deception involve more cognitive control than truth-telling? Meta-analyses of N2 and MFN ERP studies.

A number of psychological theories propose that deception involves more cognitive control than truth-telling. Over the last decades, event-related potentials (ERPs) have been used to unravel this question, but the findings are mixed. To address this controversy, two meta-analyses were conducted to quantify the results of existing studies reporting N2 or medial frontal negativity (MFN) associated with deception. In total, 32 papers consisting of 1091 participants were included, which yielded 32 effect sizes for N2 and 7 effect sizes for MFN. We found that deception was associated with a more negative N2 and MFN than truth-telling with medium and large effect sizes (r = .25 and .51, respectively). We also found that the deception paradigm modulated the results (p = .043), but found no evidence for publication bias. Our findings indicate that deception involves more cognitive control than truth-telling. Our review also identifies gaps in this literature, including a need for more ERP studies using spontaneous deception.

The relation between aggression and theory of mind in children: A meta-analysis.

Previous findings on the association between theory of mind (ToM) and aggression in children are mixed. The social skills deficit view regarded ToM as a single-edged sword and proposed that a lack of ToM can lead to aggression, while the double-edged sword view proposed that children with advanced ToM can still show much aggression because children can also leverage ToM to harm others. To resolve the dispute between the two views, we conducted a meta-analysis combining cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from 53 studies including a total of 11,579 children aged between 2 and 15 years. The overall negative correlation between ToM and aggression was small but significant (r = -0.08). The negative correlation was robust, with the magnitude of the correlation being similar across physical versus relational aggression, proactive versus reactive aggression, cognitive versus affective ToM, preschoolers versus school-aged children, different aggression measurements, and different levels of societal individualism. Moreover, the negative correlation was found regardless of whether ToM and aggression were measured concurrently or at different time points, but the correlation was the largest when ToM was measured before aggression. Whether the aggression was bullying or not also moderated the association, with ToM only being negatively related to non-bullying aggression but not bullying. Together, these findings suggest that ToM is a single-edged sword to decrease general aggression and that aggression might also give rise to lower ToM capacity during development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This study systemically reviewed the existing mixed findings on the association between aggression and ToM during childhood using a meta-analysis. There was a negative correlation between ToM and aggression in children aged between 2 and 15 years. The negative correlation between aggression and ToM was stronger when ToM was measured first, followed by aggression, than vice versa. There was a negative correlation between non-bullying aggression and ToM, whereas there was no correlation between bullying and ToM.

An experimental investigation of association between children's lying and behavior problems.

Children's lying is a major concern for parents and teachers alike, not only because lying is an antisocial behavior but also because children's lying correlates with other behavior problems, such as aggression and delinquency. Despite considerable correlational evidence demonstrating the relation between children's lying and behavior problems, experimental evidence is scarce. This study uses a novel task to experimentally examine the relation between lying for personal reward and behavior problem symptoms among 9- to 11-year-old typically developed children (N = 275, 139 boys). Results revealed a positive correlation between children's lying for personal reward and their behavior problem symptoms, and this correlation increases with age. Overall, this study provides experimental evidence suggesting children's lying for personal reward is associated with behavior problems.

The developmental origins of a default moral response: A shift from honesty to dishonesty.

People are sometimes tempted to lie for their own benefit if it would not harm others. For adults, dishonesty is the default response in these circumstances. The developmental origins of this phenomenon were investigated between 2019 and 2021 among 6- to 11-year-old Han Chinese children from China (N = 548, 49% female). Children had an opportunity to win prizes in a behavioral economics game (Experiment 1) or a temptation resistance game adapted from developmental psychology (Experiment 2). In each experiment, the youngest children showed a default tendency of honesty and there was an overall age-related shift toward a default tendency of dishonesty. These findings provide direct evidence of developmental change in the automatic and controlled processes that underlie moral behavior.

A Longitudinal Study of the Relations Between Theory of Mind, Executive Function, and Lying in Children.

This study used longitudinal cross-lagged modeling to examine the contribution of theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF) to children's lying development and of children's lying to ToM and EF development. Ninety-seven Chinese children (initial M age = 46 months, 47 boys) were tested three times approximately 4 months apart. Results showed that the diverse desire understanding and knowledge access understanding components of ToM, as well as the inhibitory control component of EF predicted the development of children's lying, while the diverse belief understanding and false belief understanding components of ToM, and the working memory component of EF did not predict development of children's lying. Meanwhile, children's lying predicted development of children's belief-emotion understanding components of ToM, but not any other ToM components, or EF components. These findings provide longitudinal evidence for the relation between ToM, EF, and children's lying during the preschool years.

Theory of mind, executive function, and lying in children: a meta-analysis.

Scientific research on how children learn to tell lies has existed for more than a century. Earlier studies mainly focused on moral, social, and situational factors contributing to the development of lying. Researchers have only begun to explore the cognitive correlations of children's lying in the last two decades. Cognitive theories suggest that theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) should be closely related to the development of lying since lying is, in essence, ToM and EF in action. Yet, findings from empirical studies are mixed. To address this issue, the current meta-analysis reviewed all prior literature that examined the relations between children's lying and ToM and/or between children's lying and EF. In total, 47 papers consisting of 5099 participants between 2 and 19 years of age were included, which yielded 74 effect sizes for ToM and 94 effect sizes for EF. Statistically significant but relatively small effects were found between children's lying and ToM (r = .17) and between lying and EF (r = .13). Furthermore, EF's correlation with children's initial lies was significantly smaller than its correlation with children's ability to maintain lies. This comprehensive meta-analysis provides a clear picture of the associations between children's ToM/EF and their lying behavior and confirms that ToM and EF indeed play a positive role in children's lying and its development.

Influence of Two Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) on Empathy: the Mediation Role of a Primary Emotion, CARE.

To feel other's pain would elicit empathy. Some theorists hypothesized that observing other's pain may activate the primary emotion of maternal care instinct, which may function as a precursor of empathy. The maternal care instinct and empathy share the same genetic background and neuroendocrine underpinnings. An extensive body of research has shown that maternal behaviors relate to the oxytocinergic system, which has a strong influence on empathy. These studies suggest that the maternal care instinct may mediate the effect of oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) on empathy. To provide evidence for this mediation, we used the subscale of CARE in Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) to measure the maternal care instinct and tested two OXTR single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs53576 and rs13316193, in 880 high school participants (588 females, 292 males; Mage = 16.51 years old, SD = 0.65). Results showed that the genotype of rs13316193 was indirectly associated with empathy via CARE, suggesting a mediating role of CARE in the pathway from OXTR to empathy. These findings may contribute to an understanding of how empathy emerges when one witnesses another person in pain.

How Oxytocin Receptor (OXTR) Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Act on Prosociality: The Mediation Role of Moral Evaluation.

Prosociality is related to numerous positive outcomes, and mechanisms underlying individual differences in prosociality have been widely discussed. Recently, research has found converging evidence on the influence of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene on prosociality. Meanwhile, moral reasoning, a key precursor for social behavior, has also been associated with variability in OXTR gene, thus the relationship between OXTR and prosociality is assumed to be mediated by moral evaluation. The current study examines the relationship in question, and includes gender as a potential moderator. Self-reported prosociality on Prosocial Tendencies Measure and evaluation on the moral acceptability of behaviors in stories from 790 Chinese adolescents (32.4% boys) were analyzed for the influence of their OXTR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Results showed that SNP at site rs2254298 was indirectly associated with prosocial behaviors via moral evaluation of behaviors, and this effect was moderated by gender. Our findings suggest an indirect association between genetic variations in OXTR and prosociality through moral evaluation, indicating the potential pathway from genetic variability to prosociality through level of moral development. We also provide some evidence that the role of oxytocin system may to some extent depend on gender. These findings may promote our understanding of the genetic and biological roots of prosociality and morality.

Genetic influences on insight problem solving: the role of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene polymorphisms.

People may experience an "aha" moment, when suddenly realizing a solution of a puzzling problem. This experience is called insight problem solving. Several findings suggest that catecholamine-related genes may contribute to insight problem solving, among which the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene is the most promising candidate. The current study examined 753 healthy individuals to determine the associations between 7 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms on the COMT gene and insight problem-solving performance, while considering gender differences. The results showed that individuals carrying A allele of rs4680 or T allele of rs4633 scored significantly higher on insight problem-solving tasks, and the COMT gene rs5993883 combined with gender interacted with correct solutions of insight problems, specifically showing that this gene only influenced insight problem-solving performance in males. This study presents the first investigation of the genetic impact on insight problem solving and provides evidence that highlights the role that the COMT gene plays in insight problem solving.

The arginine vasopressin V1b receptor gene and prosociality: Mediation role of emotional empathy.

The vasopressin V1b receptor (AVPR1B) gene has been shown to be closely associated with bipolar disorder and depression. However, whether it relates to positive social outcomes, such as empathy and prosocial behavior, remains unknown. This study explored the possible role of the AVPR1B gene rs28373064 in empathy and prosociality. A total of 256 men, who were genetically unrelated, non-clinical ethnic Han Chinese college students, participated in the study. Prosociality was tested by measuring the prosocial tendencies of cognitive and emotional empathy using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs28373064, was genotyped using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. The results suggest that the AVPR1B gene rs28373064 is linked to emotional empathy and prosociality. The mediation analysis indicated that the effect of the AVPR1B gene on prosociality might be mediated by emotional empathy. This study demonstrated the link between the AVPR1B gene and prosociality and provided evidence that emotional empathy might mediate the relation between the AVPR1B gene and prosociality.

[Epidemic characteristics and viral antibody level among healthy people of Japanese B encephalitis in Henan province in 2010].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the epidemic characteristics and viral antibody level among healthy people of Japanese B encephalitis (JE) in Henan province in 2010. METHODS: A total of 433 selected JE cases in Henan province in 2010 were analyzed by descriptive epidemiological method. Xinyang and Luoyang were selected as survey sites in 2010.12 administrative villages were randomly selected from both cities. As the investigation objects, 519 healthy people from the two cities were randomly selected by eight age groups:less than one year old, 1 - 2 years old, 3 - 4 years old, 5 - 6 years old, 7 - 14 years old, 15 - 19 years old, 20 - 59 years old, and above 60 years old. A total of 1008 samples of blood specimens were collected both in May and November, and JE viral antibody was detected by micro-cytopathic effect neutralization test. RESULTS: The incidence rate of JE was 0.46/100 000 (433/94 130 434) in Henan province in 2010.97.69% (423/433) of the patients were found between July and September, and 81.06% (351/433) were distributed in Nanyang, Xinyang, Luoyang, Zhumadian and Zhoukou city. Children aged 0 to 14 years were the primarily affected group (82.22%, 356/433), the people above 15 years old accounted for 17.78% (77/433) of whole cases in Henan province, but the same group accounted for 65.79% (50/76) of whole cases in Luoyang city, which obviously higher than the percentage in Henan province (χ(2) = 79.57, P < 0.05). Most patients were scattered children in Henan province, accounting for 58.89% (255/433). In Luoyang city, most patients were peasants, accounting for 44.74% (34/76). The antibody positive rate of JE among health people above 15 years old in Luoyang city was 48.94% (46/94), which was lower than it in Xinyang city at 97.78% (88/90). The difference showed statistical significance (χ(2) = 55.42, P < 0.05). The antibody positive rate among healthy people under vaccination was 50.41% (61/121), which was obviously higher than that among people without vaccination, at 16.67% (6/36) in Luoyang city. The difference showed statistical significance (χ(2) = 12.92, P < 0.05). The antibody positive rate among healthy people under vaccination was 67.11% (51/76) in Xinyang city, which was obviously higher than that among people without vaccination, at 46.39% (45/97). The difference showed statistical significance (χ(2) = 7.40, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The incidence of JE showed seasonal and regional characteristics, there were differences among ages and occupations. The difference was consistent with the difference in viral antibody level among health people in Henan province and Luoyang city.

[Surveillance of healthy people's Japanese encephalitis neutralizing antibody in some areas of Henan Province].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the prevalence characteristics and influence factors of Japanese encephalitis (JE) neutralizing antibody in healthy people. METHODS: Xinyang and Luoyang is the two cities in Henan Province. In 2010, healthy people of these two cities were selected by random sampling method to eight age groups: less than one year old, 1 -2 years old, 3 -4, 5 -6, 7 -14, 15 -19, 20 -59,and above 60 years old, their blood specimens were collected in May before JE infection and in November after JE infection, then followed with epidemiological investigation for JE neutralizing antibody by MCPENT. RESULTS: 519 healthy people were surveyed, 1008 effective blood specimens were collected and tested. The JE neutralizing antibody positive rate was 59.52% in men, and 67.39% in male, these two rates had no statistical significance (chi2 = 3.41, P > 0.05). The JE neutralizing antibody was 58.66% in May, and 61.20% in November, these two rates had no statistical significance (chi2 = 0.68, P > 0.05). The JE neutralizing antibody positive rate of 0 - 14 years old age group was 55.19% in Xinyang, and 45.03% in Luoyang,these two rates had no statistical significance (chi2 = 3.53, P > 0. 05). The JE neutralizing antibody positive rate of above 15 years old age group is 97.78% in Xinyang,and 48.94% in Luoyang, these two rates had statistical significance (chi2 = 55.42, P < 0.05). The JE neutralizing antibody positive rate of JE vaccination was 56.85%, and 38.35% in no JE vaccination, these two rates had statistical significance (chi2 = 10.88, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The JE neutralizing antibody positive rate was showing significant differences in people above 15 years old between Xinyang and Luoyang. The JE neutralizing antibody positive rate was showing significant differences between JE vaccination and no vaccination. Xinyang and Luoyang City, recommended strengthening the 0 - 14 year-olds immunized, and at the same time, exploring and paying attention to JE immunization strategy of people above 15 years old in Luoyang.